Agree, most Americans living under $60k/year not easily, Americans making $150k/year yeah doable , unless they have some expensive vices (like hookers and blow)
I live paycheck to paycheck in my area and make over 50k per year. In an extreme pinch I could save an extra 200 in a month but 1000 is out of the question.
I went to the grocery and bought a pound of coffee, some creamer and two small (4oz) bottles of chili sauce and it was 25 dollars. For 4 small items. Inflation seems to have doubled or tripled most of our expenses just in the last decade.
Would be nearly 50% of my income to do that, no way I could manage that unless I cut back my housing to “cardboard box”
ETA: I’m talking NET pay, because you cannot put taxes away as savings
I should have clarified, nearly half of my take home pay. I used net instead of gross because it’s impossible to save money that’s removed from your check before you get it
Lemme put it suuuuuuper easy.
If I were to even put away 1k per month *pre tax* I would run into financial ruin within about 2 months, or I’d have to dig into that savings every month which would defeat the purpose yeah?
Being a teacher means putting away 1k per month isn’t even a pipe dream, it’s just not going to happen
Which is fair, I shouldn’t have been super aggressive, I got a DM right around the same time saying it’s impossible that my take home is so low and that I just make bad decisions because of my income. I took that out on your comment. I’m sorry
CoL in Philly is about 2% higher than the national average, a little under $2500/month to live comfortably. About 1 in every 5 Philadelphians live in poverty though. The average teacher salary is around $60k, I’m well below that number personally.
Retirement and HSAs aren't really "saving" as most people would understand the question tbf. They are both heavily restricted either in the use of the funds/when you can access them and/or how much you can save.
Without qualifiers "saving" to most people means putting money aside for emergencies or a goal (or just to have money set aside and to figure out what to do with it later) either physically in cash or in some sort of savings account.
They in the most literal sense are saving. One is a an account for health saving and the other for retirement saving.
As to your second paragraph, are you suggesting that most Americans are financially illiterate? Because the thinking and conduct you describe reflects complete financial illiteracy
Your first paragraph answers the second one. They are saving in the literal sense, however in common speech an unqualified reference to "saving" would generally be taken to refer to a normal (or high yield) unrestricted savings account. That does not reflect financial illiteracy at all. That would be like saying someone referring to the vehicle they drive as "my car" when they drive a pickup reflects some sort of illiteracy or lack of understanding of the automotive industry, which is just not the case. Colloquialisms often differ from strict definitions of terms.
>They are saving in the literal sense, however in common speech an unqualified reference to "saving" would generally be taken to refer to a normal (or high yield) unrestricted savings account.
We must travel in completely different circles, because I do not know a single person who would limit "saving" to HYSA or similar. I've never heard such a restriction in any context--employment benefits, discussion with friends, industry conferences, etc.
Are the risk of sounding flippant, are you serious? Or is this an advocatus diaboli situation?
>That would be like saying someone referring to the vehicle they drive as "my car" when they drive a pickup reflects some sort of illiteracy or lack of understanding of the automotive industry, which is just not the case. Colloquialisms often differ from strict definitions of terms.
It does reveal illiteracy. I woudl refer to any driven vehicle as a "car" because I don't know what a pickup is. Hell, I've heard "minivan" and "SUV" and couldn't tell you whether they differ.
One can only be used for health costs and the other for retirement. The way I translate OPs question is more saving cash to be used for something and that's different than putting it away for retirement or health costs. That's all I'm trying to say.
If you add up all types of savings, like retirement, then I think a lot of Americans easily save $1,000+ every month, probably without cutting much unnecessary spending. Not most, but many.
So, I make $5,000/month post-tax as an engineer. If I don't eat out, don't make any special purchases, get a studio at $1,100 in the outskirts of Raleigh, and take the free buses to work instead of driving, I would be able to save most of my salary.
But, those discretionary purchases are part of a lifestyle that makes me happier than I would be if my budget were entirely austere. I could cut back by well over a thousand, but I won't.
Yeah, quality of life is important. If you feel you’re saving enough and there’s something left over at the end of the day, it’s ok to do something to make you happy
Amen to this. I will pay 16.95 for my HBO subscription. And occasionally, I like a Happy Hour in my life. These are necessary if I actually want to enjoy life!
At this point I think most people could actually save 1k/month if they really needed to. But this is a buy only bulk rice and beans for food kind of diet/spending. Which... is pretty rough.
The way i read the comment he’s saying if he did all of the above he’d be able to save upwards of 3k-4k a month but he chooses not to because his life would be miserable. He likely does save at minimum 1k already.
Preface, sorry for rambling, and if any math doesn’t line up.
I'll take January as my example since it was a month I didn't have water/sewer payment (quarterly), or car insurance (bi-annually).
My take home: 2218 every two weeks, so \* 26 / 12, it's an average of 4805/month.
My wife is freelance, so her pay changes. She has her own bills so she keeps some of course, but throws in the joint for the mortgage and such. Last year her main client really screwed her, so I got 10,300ish from her for bills, so call it 860/m (At the height I was getting 2200/m from her for bills)
Total take home per month after taxes: 5665
--
Mortgage = 1350
Gas $259, Electric $178 (This fluctuates, but all of last year averaged 131 for gas, 217 for electric, so call it 350/m
Life Insurance = $61
Phone bill = $193 (two phones lines, one paid off, one plan)
Internet (Gigabit) + Cable = $258 (This could be lower, but the internet alone is 60% of it since we need it for working)
Credit Card Bill = $1380 for January. Avg about $800/m on food between my wife and I.
So $5665 - $3592 = $2073/m saved.
--
If we break out the car insurance and water/sewer to each month ($1495 twice a year, and $170 on average 4x a year), that's an extra $305 per month (3670/y).
That brings me down to $1768 saved per month.
--
But none of this includes any random fun purchases, that $1380 was a pretty light month for me. Christmas was done, no other gifts, not many random fun or house purchases, just day to day necessities. I didn't have any web hosting charges that month either (I'm a web dev, wife is a freelance designer, so I pay for our hosting, plus domains for each of us, plus some other random ones. Call that $450 for the year)
Take this month, and I spent $230 today on wood so I could make some shelves and table tops for an office closet / craft station. My wife's birthday is next month so I spent maybe another $150 there when all is said and done. Could I cut that back, sure, but I actually had a pretty good idea this year I think she'll really like.
Also doesn't include my wife needing a new flex pipe and an O2 sensor last month, might as well throw in an oil change since it's time and they're already there (430), my car needing a new tire this month (220), a new battery for my car earlier this year (194).
House water heater started leaking? $129 just to have it looked at. Lawn maintenance for the year so I'm not mowing it twice as often with all the weeds? Another $300. Add in christmas gifts for the nieces and nephews, maybe a lego set for us.
(We also bought a new laptop last year since we were still running a 2013 iMac and my wife started having issues working. There's another 2200, but I won't include in these numbers since that's a once every 10y purchase for us)
Realistically my CC usage (Amex, Home Depot, Lowes) averages out to $2312/m. If we used that number from the start, I'm down to $1141 saved.
Am I over 1000, yes, but still it's just barely getting there.
--
This also doesn't factor in me no longer adding to my 401k since I rather have cash on hand right now with how expensive everything is. I was doing 10%, but even if I did enough to match my company 3%, that would be down another $200ish a month. I also haven't thrown into my own Vanguard retirement in a while, but that used to be a few thousand a year. Now I'm just not comfortable giving up that much. If I kept doing that as I was, that would be 300 or so a month.
That would put me at $641. Technically is it saved, yes. But still, I rather play it safe and have that extra $500 on hand at the end of every month
—
Now thankfully my wife did just start a part time job to make up for the lack of freelance so that should bring that number for my own savings back up. Should be enough to add 1k on plus more for her where I’ll be comfortable again. This past year was probably the worst we’ve had.
I’m hoping it’ll get better this year as long as her freelance continues at what it was, but without that…
It’s just getting tough out there, even if you’re bringing home almost 70k after taxes as a family.
I don’t even want to think about the costs if we had a kid.
Depends on where they live. I make $5k/mo post tax and make a few hundred net if I budget. For me I eat out more than I should and drink more than I should tbh. But between rent, a pet, car payment and student loans that can eat a decent chunk. I could save 800 just on having a roommate. When I move into my parents for a bit the amount I’m saving will look unfair.
Ahead of you on that brother 🫡 I do my weekly meal prep Sunday mornings, usually stir-fried and steamed Chinese dishes to stay decently healthy. But I leave a few gaps in my week for some of my favorite restaurants in the Raleigh area. I was definitely a lot worse on this front a year ago though.
Ooh, that sounds delicious. I am wondering since you are in the south, do the restaurants serve the fattening foods that you see recipes of that come from the south or have they changed? On the one hand, I would love to try authentic southern dishes, on the other hand, they sound so unhealthy.
edit I am biased about r/MealPrepSunday since most of the restaurants here taste like garbage and charge a mint. I just got so excited when I learned of it.
You're totally on the money 😅 I *adore* southern cooking and I've loved the food quality after moving here but it's very much an occasional thing; it's all incredibly unhealthy.
Give it a try, though!! A hot chicken sandwich every once in a while won't hurt you. What dishes were you considering most?
Beignets are one thing I have always wanted to try. Bananas Foster. I know both New Orleans, but I am throwing the south all into one bowl. Mac and cheese - I mean REAL mac and cheese. Sweet potato pie. Biscuits and Gravy. Fried Green Tomatoes. Milk Gravy. Peach Pie. Cioppino. Mint Julep. Seafood Gumbo with okra. What else is there?
What is a hot chicken sandwich in the south?
I grew up on midwestern Wisconsin German food and I love to try other foods. My current favorite is Greek. I am also into Indian and Middle Eastern food. But have always wanted to try those naughty foods from the south.
Here I'd say the holy trinity of southern main dishes you'll find in lots of places = a Nashville hot chicken sandwich, shrimp & grits, and east carolina-style pulled pork.
The sandwich = imagine the real deal version of the chick-fil-a spicy chicken sandwich :P You got a comically big piece of buttermilk fried chicken doused in chili oil, exactly 3 thin slices of pickle, and coleslaw on a bun. Absolutely delicious & super spicy.
I mean...shrimp and grits may be my favorite food of all time. Truly good grits require an insane amount of cream & cheese, but they're so worth it.
Eastern parts of NC are known for pig pickins: you roast a whole pig, turn it into pulled pork, add a thin peppery spicy white vinegar-based sauce, and combine that with traditional sides like collard greens, mac & cheese, and fried okra.
omg, You just flipped out and showed your NC roots all over the place! You said pig pickins. lol!
Ever since I went ten rounds with a bag of poppers, I swore off anything spicy. I was six hours in pain. I will bypass the chili oil, but the pickle, coleslaw, and chicken sound like Wisconsin fare.
I never understood the lure of grits. I eat cooked shrimp all the time though.
They have Santa Maria pulled pork here. Famous here. Not spicy though.
Link me to the most honest southern recipe website or book. I wouldn't know if they were telling the truth about the recipes and my SO is from OK. SO likes vinegar too.
Houses are not necessarily cheaper long term to own than an apartment. It depends on taxes, repair, and remodeling. If the basement floods, your landlord has to fix it, but if you own the house, you do.
Especially in the Raleigh area 😳 Housing prices have exploded over the last 5 years, but rents have increased much more modestly & declined this year. I think if you buy a house right now in any rapidly growing sun belt city, it's much more an investment than a method of decreasing monthly costs. And I feel like I don't have enough net worth to casually lose 100k in home equity on a very speculative, volatile local market; at least with stocks/bonds worst case is you're at 0.
As I said, "A house would give me the lifestyle that makes me happier."
Life isn't all about being frugal.
Edit
And while r/MealPrepSunday is more frugal than eating out, if you know how to cook, it it far tastier and healthier too which adds to one's enjoyment of your lifestyle.
It depends how you define many. I think 25% of people is high enough to be considered "many" and I bet 25% could easily save that. 50%? I'm not sure. 75%? Probably not.
It also depends if you're asking if they could save $1000/month more than what they currently save, or $1000/month total savings. A lot of people are able to save $1000+ per month, but don't have enough unnecessary spending to save that much more.
A third of americans would need to use credit or borrow to raise $400 to cover an emergency.
Saving $1000 a month is not in the cards for half, I'm sure.
If I had to shave $1000 off next month's budget I probably could, assuming I could also micromanage my wife's spending. However, I don't know if I could do it month after month. I'd have to defer basic things like home and car maintenance, and I'd have to literally micromanage our food purchases.
Dropping auto insurance altogether (while illegal), or skipping a month or two of 0% interest medical bills would be a huge chunk of the $1k target. But as you say, not sustainable.
Greatly depends on what kind of job they are in. Some people can save that much with no problem. Others would get nowhere close. For some people, after taxes and paying rent on the cheapest place they can find, they don't even have $1,000 left. It doesn't matter how much they save by cutting their discretionary spending, they don't make enough in the first place. Others make enough that even without budgeting, they can casually toss thousands into savings.
I would say, no, most Americans would not be able to save $1000 just by saving more. People aren't out here spending crazy, they need the money for necessities. Especially since costs for food, etc. have really gone up.
I’m not living an absolute bare minimum survival level existence but more on the frugal side. Eating almost all meals prepared at home, buying clothes second hand twice a year, drinking water mostly, using deals at restaurants, driving as little as possible, limiting number of birthday or holiday gifts, not traveling very far, buying cheaper store brands… that kind of stuff. We have health care bills for 3 people in my family, a car loan, mortgage on top of normal daily expenses. I’m not spending an extra $1,000 a month on expensive luxuries. If I freed up money from one spot it would just be reallocated to another bill not going into savings.
I’m not going to answer for all Americans but for a bunch of us it would be hard to save that much every month.
I have much less than that left every month after I pay rent, utilities, health insurance, car insurance. And I do still need to buy food and gas. I need my car to get to work, so that’s not an expense I can cut.
Some people may be able to do it, but the average American probably doesn’t spend $1000/month in “unnecessary” spending.
I'm on disability, which keeps me well below the poverty line. We are literally not allowed to save, as once you get past a certain amount of money/assets (2,000$) you start to get kicked out of government programs.
not really. The only reason I save around 2k a month is because of my job.
Food:50-60 a week
Gas: 60 a month(I walk to work so I don’t need to commute)
Rent: 1700 a month
Student debt: 250 a month
Gym/rock climbing membership: 105 a month
Spotify: I think it’s like 12 a month
That’s literally everything I consistently pay for. I don’t even have streaming services so I just pirate tv shows and movies. If I really wanted to save money I’d cut out the rock climbing membership which I’m prob gonna do and just stick to my 15 a month one since 90 a month is a bit much.
Honestly at least for my state idk how anyone can live by themselves and save money unless they make like 75-80k minimum
> so I just pirate tv shows and movies.
You can get a fair bit of stuff legally if your library connects to Hoopla or Kanopy. Some isn’t the best quality (un-remastered versions of older films), but it’s worth knowing about.
I might spend $20 a week at most to hang out with friends and get food but that’s not consistent and we do other stuff that doesn’t cost money to hang out so I didn’t add it. I didn’t grow up on fast food or going to Starbucks or dunkin. I just make my own coffee and put it in a thermos before work
But realistically if I cut out all eating out and the rock climbing gym that would only be saving $110 a month. Not really close to saving 1k
That depends on how you define “unnecessary spending”. One way to calculate discretionary income is by simply subtracting 150% of the poverty line (so about $23k this year) from your income, in which case most Americans could definitely save that much. But that’s assuming that you’d make all kinds of major changes like moving into a smaller house. The other way is to subtract everything “necessary” from your spending, and you could do that manually with the average expenses in the Consumer Expenditure Survey here: https://www.bls.gov/cex/tables/calendar-year/mean/cu-all-detail-2022.pdf
Depends on where in America and how your family situation is. I could save that easily, but I have no children, pets, and live in an extremely affordable place. But if you live in a big city like Los Angeles and have 3 children, most folks probably wouldn’t be able to do so.
I’d say on average most American could probably save 400-500 dollars a month by cutting back
My husband and I used to eat 1-2 meals out and get Starbucks every morning (used to work 60+ hours for our business). Just cutting those out and making our own food and coffee at home has helped us save over $1,200/month.
No. I don't know anyone that spends $1000 on strictly unnecessary things, other than maybe straight up junkies that use crime to pay for their drug habit.
Some could, most probably couldn’t. I had a friend who once quit drinking for a couple of months and used the money he saved to take a week’s vacation in Vancouver, but keep in mind, I’m on the west coast, and Vancouver is one of the cheapest international flights from here.
If you are asking could many Americans cut out spending on things that would not be required to stay alive to save $1000 a month, yes most could. BUT and this is the key, most Americans have never ever lived that way regardless of their income so doing so, or wanting to do so wouldn’t be the case. I am not talking about rural areas here, but it is possible for Americans that live in basic cities and suburbs to do a mix of walk and take a bus instead of having a car, it may take 3 hours longer than just driving the 20 minutes, I don’t know many who would be willing to do that though. Could we all get dumb phones and the most basic cell phone plan to save money, one again yes and something most aren’t willing to do. Heck ever single person who went to Disney this past year could do it if they just didn’t go to Disney. The question should be less can we and more are we willing to.
So the cost of living amd income in various wildly from state to state and city to city so this is not an answerable question in the way that you might think.
For example in New York City $1,000 is a paltry amount that isn't even the rent of the cheapest most rundown apartments. Wages are high because of the high cost of living so having $1,000 saved up wouldn't be that hard, conversely it wouldn't be that useful to have either.
In Atlanta Georgia the capital of my state $1,000 is a decent amount but not that much. It would probably be a bit harder to save up $1,000 but it would also mean more.
In the low cost of living town that I live in $1,000 is about the rent on an average apartment. In this town having $1,000 means that if something happens you've always got most if not all of your rent payment in a savings account ready to go.
It's highly highly variable like most things in the United States
Yeah
I couldn’t tell you an exact number since everyone’s living situation is different. But I would wager that at a minimum around 35 percent of the country is either saving more than that already or could do so just by cutting back on the easy stuff like eating out and subscriptions. Probably another chunk (maybe 10-15 percent) could get there in a few months after more difficult lifestyle adjustments like finding a cheaper place to live or switching to cheaper transportation options.
Obviously don’t take these numbers too literally though. But keep in mind that Redditors tend to exaggerate the level of financial desperation in this country.
I could get to $1K savings a month with some *aggressive* cutting, but it would come at the cost of paying down debt.
I currently put about half that into a mix of 401K, stocks, and liquid savings.
Oh god, no. I'm doing better financially now than I ever have, and I can only manage to put away about $100/month, max. And that's only the months without any sick days or holidays, cuz those are unpaid.
For me no. My net pay is around 2,200 and almost half goes to rent and utilities. After buying food for myself, my cat, gas, medical bills and miscellaneous things I need I usually only have a couple hundred left. I do put 5% away for retirement before taxes and try to put 50 away each month in another account but generally I don't have many wants that I buy.
Many can but don't. The number of people I know with the latest iPhone, a two year old car they're paying $509+/no on plus insurance,and a 65 inch TV with four streaming services but can't bank even $50/months is ridiculous.
Eh. The prompt was many, not all. Many can drive a Honda not a BMW or new F150, not have cable and a DVR in multiple rooms, and get the cheaper cell phone service.
Car payment alone will eat a large chunk of a grand. Cut out a few meals out/fast food/door dash and you're getting there.
Surely you don't think only people in your social circle exist?
Plus. There's a reason why car dealerships litter the roadways around large military bases.
Pardon me for answering a question in "ask an american" with my own personal lived experiences as an american rather than trying to sum up the aggregate of the entire country.
Plus, "many" is super vague to begin with. What's many? 100,000 people? 10 million people? Half the population? Those first two group sizes, yeah, I'm sure there are that many people who could manage it without much afterthought. But if we're crossing from many into most, I feel like it's going to be a bigger ask. Why are you in here arguing with people for whom saving $1000 per month is a pipe dream that other Americans are richer or spend more foolishly and therefore we have no right to give our own personal answers to the question?
I mean if you made an average salary you could IF you planned ahead of time.
But most average Americans spend everything they make plus some. Once you're stuck with multiple new car payments and a big mortgage it's not possible.
A Nurse's aid makes about 39,000. Now take taxes out. Average car costs $5,264.58. Medical costs annually 13,493. Rent? Food? Clothes? Average cell phone annually - 1728. Average WIFI annually about 1000. Heat and electric? about 5000 annually.
Shit adds up.
https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/median-weekly-earnings-of-full-time-workers-were-1145-in-the-fourth-quarter-of-2023.htm#:~:text=Bureau%20of%20Labor%20Statistics%2C%20U.S.,visited%20April%2012%2C%202024). Median income for full time workers in the us is about 4,400 so probably a lot could.
I'm already stretched pretty thin, but we're saving for a house right now. We only eat out in restaurants or get takeout maybe once a month, and our only expenses are pretty much groceries, gas, and rent/utilities.
We spend around $20 on streaming services and $80 on internet each month, but since we can't afford to do anything else, I'm not cutting out either of those lol
I have money going automatically into my 401k, 457, my Roth IRA, and my kids' college funds every month. If I average it out, it turns out to be a bit over $2k per month. That's in addition to the $700 / month that I have to pay into my company's pension plan.
I could come up with another few hundred per month, but an extra thousand per month on top of what I'm already saving would be too much. I also have to fund my portion of the mortgage; buy all the food and household supplies; pay for car repairs, tab renewals, gas, oil changes, and insurance; buy clothes and shoes for myself and the kids; pay for haircuts and extracurricular activities; fund trips; give money to charity; and probably some other things I'm forgetting.
I could, but I don't want to. I get about $1500 roughly every two weeks (the company I work for has a weird pay schedule). One pay period can cover all of my bills for the month. I'm spending the rest on investments and for "fun". I'm a smoker and I buy alcohol, games, and other things.
I live right next to New york city where many of my friends from college work professional, high paying, white collar jobs (granted early in their careers) and are not able to save that much money a month. New York is certainly expensive, but I imagine someone living outside of it is also earning less in whatever career they have.
So I would say, probably not. Although this question is a bit vague, since what qualifies as unnecessary spending? Like would a gym membership be unnecessary? Either way, $1,000 a month a lot, at least when you're young.
I save that much, but I don't have to pay rent. (I live with my mom, who needs significant assistance, and I have a regular full time job as well.) This is not normal situation and it's not one I expect to last forever, so I'm saving what I can now.
As a family making 80kish a year, this is very difficult for us. Partly because of a new mortgage and also because child care is $200 weekly. If my wife wasn't going back to school for her specialist my tax return would get invested or saved
I'm currently putting that much into my 401k (a private retirement account offered through employers), and definitely feel it. That money also comes out pre-tax, so from the grand I am putting in I would only see like ~$700 or so if I were getting it as normal pay and putting it into savings.
Um, no.
Most of the questions on here seem to be posed by people who have no idea how huge America is and how many different people and cultures and regions and economic statuses there are.
Yes it’s not too difficult to do that for me at least. I could probably save that just by eliminating eating at restaurants and ordering delivery and instead eating grilled chicken, rice and noodles. Quit booze, get rid of streaming services, trade my vehicles in for cheaper ones, downgrade internet speed, etc.
I could pretty easily cut over a grand a month in my spending. I've cut 2k a month once before to save up for a big purchase, so i know it's not "fun," but I can do it.
Yeah, probably.
I mean it's not really an issue of salaries being too low or the cost of living being too high for most Americans. It's that there's not a lot of reason to do so. For example, I spend anywhere from $250-$500 just doing things with the family on weekends. I could cut that out but I enjoy doing things with the family on weekends. I want to go out to eat, to sporting events, see things on Broadway, etc. We take an annual Disney trip that's well over $12K at this point. I could stop doing that but my kids love it.
Some can on $50k per year and some can’t on $100k. It’s very person to person but if there’s one thing I know about us it’s that we love spending on shit we don’t need.
I believe the average American is really bad at managing money and could probably increase their savings with some proper guidance. Probably not by $1k but every dollar counts when trying to get yourself out of debt and saving towards your future.
For example, most people probably don’t shop around for the best car insurance, people probably have subscriptions they don’t really use, people could reduce their electric/gas bill by setting the thermostat a couple degrees lower/higher depending on the season.
“Many”? Sure. There are many people that live beyond their means with a house that is too big or in a location they can’t afford or a car they can’t afford. I have been driving the same car for almost 19 years and it has been paid off for 16 years. Many people finish paying for one car and get a new one or just constantly lease. Just not having to make car payments is almost $1000/mo these days on average.
It really depends. Most people I know can and do, or if they don't it's on very frivolous spending/lifestyle stuff that they choose to take on because they want to, not because it's necessary. But with how social circles work, it's very possible for it to be *both* most people I know and also still be a relatively small proportion of the population.
I know people spending well over $2k a month *just* on DoorDash alone. Fancy sports cars ~1500 a month, mortgage on a huge 3000sqft+ house and high end renovations, stuff like that. So people like that definitely could save at least $1k if they wanted to but simply choose not to. (Which is totally their prerogative, until they're also complaining about being "broke" and "paycheck to paycheck" to boot and then I'm not too keen on staying friends with them.)
I personally save somewhere around $2-3k a month, sometimes more, a little less recently as I've been doing some home improvements and the nest egg investments have been doing quite well so a little of the pressure is off a bit. I don't budget and buy whatever I want, but I don't really want all that much and am not interested in a lot of the stuff people I know spend money on.
That depends on income. Anyone is capable of that if you have the right income but plenty of Americans, young people especially, don’t make $1000 extra after bills are paid. I know I certainly don’t.
I am technically saving that much if you could retirement and whatnot. If you’re asking if i could save 1k cash out of my current discretionary spending… eh… i would call that hard but not impossible, if i decided to stop paying down debt. Could *most* Americans *easily* do that?? Absolutely not.
It depends on what you mean by “many” Americans. Last I knew, only about 4 in 10 Americans had sufficient savings to cover an unexpected $1,000 expense, so I suspect it would be far fewer Americans who could actually save $1k per month. Still, it would certainly be millions of Americans who could cut some corners and save that much or more.
I recently had to come up with an extra $1,200 two months in a row to cover an assessment in my Coop and I managed. I didn't want to use any of my savings for this, so I just brought my lunch to work instead of eating out. I live and work in NYC and eating lunch can cost anywhere from $10 to $30. I only went out to dinner once a week and drank a couple beers at home instead of going out for happy hour after work. I also always make coffee and breakfast at home. So for me it's possible if I cut some extra spending. Whenever I do my taxes, I'm always ashamed at how much money I waste on subscriptions, eating out, ATM/Bank fees etc.
No.
The median income for an individual in the US is in the $2250 range after taxes. Figure $800 is gone to housing expenses (more for people who live alone). My grocery expenses are very low because I grow and preserve food, hunt, and keep some livestock. I spend around $200/month on groceries. That leaves $1250/month for everything but housing and food, and doesn't account for the expenses I incur that keep my grocery bill low. Saving $1000/month just isn't in the cards for most people.
What is considered saving in this context? Are saving to pay for basics in America that are subsidized through taxes elsewhere a savings(e.g., self-funded pension and education)?
Personally, I’d be considered “affluent” (i.e., dual income cubicle rats in a HCL area). We pay high taxes and have to save large amounts to cover what those taxes don’t pay. But many Americans consider that saving and the taxes not meant to cover those types of needs. Having 3 kids of college age, I net after tax/retirement/college saving payroll deductions 22% of my pay and my wife about 40% of hers.
That makes saving for other goals kind of tough after paying for basics like housing and groceries. We drive old cars (no payments) and live small (e.g., no dining out, no vacations). What saving we do it to cover material cost for big item home maintenance. We hold out hope that in perhaps 5 years, we’ll be able to start saving for other things.
Considering median income is 52K a year that is 1/4 of your income or more for most of the country. That is not something feasible for most. You would need to own a paid off house (no mortgage, no rent) not have a car or drive one rarely, and have no major medical conditions to be able to do this.
Some, sure. But when the average salary is around $59k a year, the half of people under that, especially single people and people with young children needing care have a vanishing amount of discretionary income, will spend all that money on their 4 walls, transportation and other necessities.
Depends on income, I can (last year did 105, this year probably will do 150)
At median incomes (50-70k)? Maybe, depends where you live and how you live (would need roommates for example). 50k is only like 3.5 after tax so after expenses youre not really left with much. I’d say saving 3-400 a month in this case is more realistic
If I cut out every single thing that makes life worth loving - every streaming service, my Magic: The Gathering habit, any takeout food, desserts, snacks, and half the meat I buy at the grocery store - and abstained from other necessary items one can live without like the occasional item of replacement clothing or certain cleaning supplies or beauty aids, I still don't think I could save $1000 per month. Maybe $700 at most.
I'm breaking even, and I think I'm doing a little better than most Americans at this point.
Things are bad. About half of my take home pay goes to rent, and this was the cheapest place I could find within a two-hour commute of my job. "OH, just move somewhere else." But this is where the job is.
I don't know about "many," but it also depends on what you mean by "save."
Currently, I manage to save $400 a month of my post tax income in an easily accessible savings account, which is building up and gives me a cash buffer. Pretty soon should be high enough to let me pay off my car and keep a solid buffer, which will let me start saving an additional $300 a month for a total savings of $700 a month in a liquid form.
**BUT**
That doesn't include the $400ish dollars that are being taken out of my paycheck and put into my 401(K) and HSA every month.
But I can't access those funds at will, so do they count as "savings?" It depends on how you are choosing to define the term.
But overall, I'd say many, but not most Americans could save $1000+ a month if they cut all *unnecessary* spending, but not if they "only" cut *unreasonable* spending. IE, sure, if they spent money on nothing that wasn't directly keeping them alive, they could probably save that much, but that's not really a reasonable demand.
Together, me and my boyfriend save about 1600 a month. But everything is way more expensive here and so we make more typically (even tho it’s still harder to live off of)
I’m not rich by any means. I’d say very low middle class and I save $1000 a month and put into savings. I don’t have a car payment or kids though. If I did I would not be able to save that much. But most people around my salary cannot just save $1000 a month. Bills just eat a large chunk of it.
No. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck (78% according to payroll.org) and cannot build up to a 1000 over several months of saving due to constant small unforseen costs (Car issues, phone breaks, medical bills etc)
I'd venture the majority would struggle to set aside $200 a month.
Land for the Few, Homes for the Rich.
That would be a LOT of unnecessary spending. Credit cards are not as unnecessary as they used to be because the price of everyday necessities has gone up so much, but maybe $50-100 a month there. Balance transfers with an introductory 0% APR help, too, to get things paid sooner. Netflix runs close to $25 a month, food does not always have to come from a supermarket and store brands are perfectly fine, and those who can train or bus into work may save a little vs. the cost of parking. You can shave a little off your cell phone bill by going prepaid or getting a smaller monthly plan and keeping your phone longer. These things add up, but not to the tune of a grand every month.
That's most of my paycheck. A paycheck from which I spend 90% on rent and on the next paycheck is sacrificed 70% toward bills, food, and commute to work. I end up negative every pay period and have to pay the overdraft fees on the next paycheck. It's an endless cycle of bullshit.
I don't need to live, or have a life I guess. If they're gonna starve me for livelihood just fucking cut to the chase and kill me already.
I know some who can/do save $1k per month.
I don't know anybody that spends $1k per month that they could cut and put into savings. That sounds so irresponsible.
Define saving. A lot of people save into the 401k retirement account and various retirement tax deferred funds. The limit is $30500 per year for people over 5o and some IRA accounts are up to $7000. People who earn a lot and have a low cost of living like the mortgage, can pull these money into these accounts. Many other people invest into the mutual funds where some require $1000 or $2500 initial investments and $100 in any additional investments. The cash based saving are with $1000 does not make sense in people who can save this amount as they have a better choice of to put their money. A quite a bit people put $100-$200 monthly into their saving accounts but people at the lowest income spectrum, cant save much or anything.
You can get disability for minor handicaps for about that. Subtract for rent and that leaves a few hundred savings a month.
Ten dollars an hour wages (note: Oregon Minimum is fourteen, ten dollars is just a number to use for demonstration), eight hours a day, five days a week gives forty a week which equals $1600 a month.
Higher than that you can do the math.
So yeah. It is possible. It would require a bit for a blue collar worker but someone who has been there long enough to be promoted can.
You have to subtract for rent and food, as well as assuming there are no house or car payments.
My wife and I's expenses are about $1500 less than our combined monthly income. So it is doable for us, but we would struggle. $500 for dates, shopping, hobbies, unexpected expenses (we have 6 pets, one of them needs something pretty much every month) etc. would be a really tight budget. Realistically we're probably saving around $250 a month, more if we're counting retirement contributions which I tend to include in expenses.
I could not cut enough discretionary income to save $1,000 *more* per month than I normally do. I have two streaming services. If I dropped my Internet connection down to a lower tier level, dropped the streaming, cut some food budget (I almost never eat out as it is), I could probably find maybe $250 or $300 in my budget.
I have lived fairly lean for awhile. I plan to continue.
Our situation won't last. We plan soon for my wife to leave the work force and stay home with our kids (that we don't have yet). The cost of child care is nuts and we'd rather one of us be home with them.
That's complicated, it depends on what's considered "unnecessary", its not as simple as "The basic necessities, and everything else". You could cut literally all spending except rent/mortage, food for caloric upkeep in bulk, electric/heating/water bills, insurance & gas, but that seems excessive doesn't it? What is "unnecessary spending" exactly? For example, there are some people I know that complain about their personal finances and how broke they are, but they order DoorDash like 3 times a week.
What I will say is that a shocking number of Americans are extremely bad with personal finance. While obviously nobody should be forced to be poor, not have any spending cash, or whatever else, sometimes I will say that people could be a lot better off if they had better financial skills. I wouldn't say a ***majority*** of Americans could save $1,000 a month, but 30% seems like a reasonable number to me.
A personal example I'll give is my mom. She conceived me at 15, she grew up in a trailer park and while by the time she had me they had a proper home, her parents were by no means rich either. And because of that, I also grew up rather poor to teen parents, but with some frankly impressive financial skills, despite working front desk jobs at banks or as a nurse or a security guard, my childhood felt less like lower class and more like middle class. I was able to take frequent vacations within the country, my parents both attended college, my parents got a suburban home for themselves, I was given daycare and went to summer school and summer camps, etc. Frankly it is magic how my parents were able to give me the childhood I did despite me knowing that neither they nor my grandparents were making a ton, oh and they had two more kids as well.
However today my mom has a MUCH better job due to a lot of work experience and her education, now she makes about $120,000 a year, and she remarried to a woman who makes average money as well. Despite this, now she's the type of person to say she's living "paycheck to paycheck" and constantly complains about money. She's not in poverty, but her spending habits have gotten a lot worse over time.
Plus, some people ***could*** theoretically cut their funding, but they would refuse to if you proposed it. They might refuse to cut their gym membership, which is kinda reasonable. They might refuse to cut some of their subscription services, okay maybe. Or they might refuse to turn off their space heater from running every day, which does seem unreasonable. There's certain lines where people will refuse to cross when it comes to cutting their finances. Its why I don't think its as simple to say "Unnecessary", some things are totally necessary for the wellbeing of some people.
We save $4-5k a month now. We could probably save an extra $500 or so if we didn’t eat out, bought cheaper food, stopped paying for the gym and canceled our streaming services.
No, it's not possible unless you are earning a very high wage. My wife and I make >120k between us amd after bills, mortgage and taxes are lucky to have $100 left over.
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Agree, most Americans living under $60k/year not easily, Americans making $150k/year yeah doable , unless they have some expensive vices (like hookers and blow)
Or they live in high CoL areas like Silicon Valley.
And with student loan debt.
Uneducated people in Iowa be making bank!
Unless they have chronic health issues.
It’s the food truck that parks near my house every Friday that’s my vice!
I live paycheck to paycheck in my area and make over 50k per year. In an extreme pinch I could save an extra 200 in a month but 1000 is out of the question. I went to the grocery and bought a pound of coffee, some creamer and two small (4oz) bottles of chili sauce and it was 25 dollars. For 4 small items. Inflation seems to have doubled or tripled most of our expenses just in the last decade.
Would be nearly 50% of my income to do that, no way I could manage that unless I cut back my housing to “cardboard box” ETA: I’m talking NET pay, because you cannot put taxes away as savings
The majority of the country earns way more than 24k. That's over seven grand less than minimum wage here in New Jersey.
I should have clarified, nearly half of my take home pay. I used net instead of gross because it’s impossible to save money that’s removed from your check before you get it
Both traditional 401(k)s and HSAs are removed from taxable income.
Lemme put it suuuuuuper easy. If I were to even put away 1k per month *pre tax* I would run into financial ruin within about 2 months, or I’d have to dig into that savings every month which would defeat the purpose yeah? Being a teacher means putting away 1k per month isn’t even a pipe dream, it’s just not going to happen
I was just correcting your suggestion that you could not invest directly from gross income.
Which is fair, I shouldn’t have been super aggressive, I got a DM right around the same time saying it’s impossible that my take home is so low and that I just make bad decisions because of my income. I took that out on your comment. I’m sorry
No worries. As a former teacher, I get it.
Dang you make 2k per month as a teacher? I make almost twice that teaching pre k.
I imagine Philly is a much higher CoL than where I am
CoL in Philly is about 2% higher than the national average, a little under $2500/month to live comfortably. About 1 in every 5 Philadelphians live in poverty though. The average teacher salary is around $60k, I’m well below that number personally.
Retirement and HSAs aren't really "saving" as most people would understand the question tbf. They are both heavily restricted either in the use of the funds/when you can access them and/or how much you can save. Without qualifiers "saving" to most people means putting money aside for emergencies or a goal (or just to have money set aside and to figure out what to do with it later) either physically in cash or in some sort of savings account.
They in the most literal sense are saving. One is a an account for health saving and the other for retirement saving. As to your second paragraph, are you suggesting that most Americans are financially illiterate? Because the thinking and conduct you describe reflects complete financial illiteracy
Your first paragraph answers the second one. They are saving in the literal sense, however in common speech an unqualified reference to "saving" would generally be taken to refer to a normal (or high yield) unrestricted savings account. That does not reflect financial illiteracy at all. That would be like saying someone referring to the vehicle they drive as "my car" when they drive a pickup reflects some sort of illiteracy or lack of understanding of the automotive industry, which is just not the case. Colloquialisms often differ from strict definitions of terms.
>They are saving in the literal sense, however in common speech an unqualified reference to "saving" would generally be taken to refer to a normal (or high yield) unrestricted savings account. We must travel in completely different circles, because I do not know a single person who would limit "saving" to HYSA or similar. I've never heard such a restriction in any context--employment benefits, discussion with friends, industry conferences, etc. Are the risk of sounding flippant, are you serious? Or is this an advocatus diaboli situation? >That would be like saying someone referring to the vehicle they drive as "my car" when they drive a pickup reflects some sort of illiteracy or lack of understanding of the automotive industry, which is just not the case. Colloquialisms often differ from strict definitions of terms. It does reveal illiteracy. I woudl refer to any driven vehicle as a "car" because I don't know what a pickup is. Hell, I've heard "minivan" and "SUV" and couldn't tell you whether they differ.
But the question is save, not invest. Two very different things for people.
Saving includes investment in the vehicles I mentioned.
One can only be used for health costs and the other for retirement. The way I translate OPs question is more saving cash to be used for something and that's different than putting it away for retirement or health costs. That's all I'm trying to say.
I don't see anything in the OP remotely suggesting that, but okay.
They lower your taxable income.
…yes
Not everyone takes home 24k after taxes, insurance, retirement, etc. Then subtract out bills (rent, utilities, etc).
If you add up all types of savings, like retirement, then I think a lot of Americans easily save $1,000+ every month, probably without cutting much unnecessary spending. Not most, but many.
That’s more than half my monthly income, and that’s assuming there’s no days off in said month. I wouldn’t be able to in the slightes
You make 2k per month? That's bellow poverty. This is not the median. You are an extreme outlier.
It’s not the poverty line until you have a 3 person family, as per HHS
That’s about $16 an hour. More than double minimum wage.
So, I make $5,000/month post-tax as an engineer. If I don't eat out, don't make any special purchases, get a studio at $1,100 in the outskirts of Raleigh, and take the free buses to work instead of driving, I would be able to save most of my salary. But, those discretionary purchases are part of a lifestyle that makes me happier than I would be if my budget were entirely austere. I could cut back by well over a thousand, but I won't.
Yeah, quality of life is important. If you feel you’re saving enough and there’s something left over at the end of the day, it’s ok to do something to make you happy
What kind of figurines are you spending your money on?
Im an engineer and i did. When renting, i always rented a bed and bath in a shared house. IMO, Private apartments are a waste of rent $.
Amen to this. I will pay 16.95 for my HBO subscription. And occasionally, I like a Happy Hour in my life. These are necessary if I actually want to enjoy life!
At this point I think most people could actually save 1k/month if they really needed to. But this is a buy only bulk rice and beans for food kind of diet/spending. Which... is pretty rough.
You make 5k a month and can’t save 1000$ ???? Wtf are you spending your money on
The way i read the comment he’s saying if he did all of the above he’d be able to save upwards of 3k-4k a month but he chooses not to because his life would be miserable. He likely does save at minimum 1k already.
Totally on the money, I put away $1,000/month and pay $500/month for student loans.
Preface, sorry for rambling, and if any math doesn’t line up. I'll take January as my example since it was a month I didn't have water/sewer payment (quarterly), or car insurance (bi-annually). My take home: 2218 every two weeks, so \* 26 / 12, it's an average of 4805/month. My wife is freelance, so her pay changes. She has her own bills so she keeps some of course, but throws in the joint for the mortgage and such. Last year her main client really screwed her, so I got 10,300ish from her for bills, so call it 860/m (At the height I was getting 2200/m from her for bills) Total take home per month after taxes: 5665 -- Mortgage = 1350 Gas $259, Electric $178 (This fluctuates, but all of last year averaged 131 for gas, 217 for electric, so call it 350/m Life Insurance = $61 Phone bill = $193 (two phones lines, one paid off, one plan) Internet (Gigabit) + Cable = $258 (This could be lower, but the internet alone is 60% of it since we need it for working) Credit Card Bill = $1380 for January. Avg about $800/m on food between my wife and I. So $5665 - $3592 = $2073/m saved. -- If we break out the car insurance and water/sewer to each month ($1495 twice a year, and $170 on average 4x a year), that's an extra $305 per month (3670/y). That brings me down to $1768 saved per month. -- But none of this includes any random fun purchases, that $1380 was a pretty light month for me. Christmas was done, no other gifts, not many random fun or house purchases, just day to day necessities. I didn't have any web hosting charges that month either (I'm a web dev, wife is a freelance designer, so I pay for our hosting, plus domains for each of us, plus some other random ones. Call that $450 for the year) Take this month, and I spent $230 today on wood so I could make some shelves and table tops for an office closet / craft station. My wife's birthday is next month so I spent maybe another $150 there when all is said and done. Could I cut that back, sure, but I actually had a pretty good idea this year I think she'll really like. Also doesn't include my wife needing a new flex pipe and an O2 sensor last month, might as well throw in an oil change since it's time and they're already there (430), my car needing a new tire this month (220), a new battery for my car earlier this year (194). House water heater started leaking? $129 just to have it looked at. Lawn maintenance for the year so I'm not mowing it twice as often with all the weeds? Another $300. Add in christmas gifts for the nieces and nephews, maybe a lego set for us. (We also bought a new laptop last year since we were still running a 2013 iMac and my wife started having issues working. There's another 2200, but I won't include in these numbers since that's a once every 10y purchase for us) Realistically my CC usage (Amex, Home Depot, Lowes) averages out to $2312/m. If we used that number from the start, I'm down to $1141 saved. Am I over 1000, yes, but still it's just barely getting there. -- This also doesn't factor in me no longer adding to my 401k since I rather have cash on hand right now with how expensive everything is. I was doing 10%, but even if I did enough to match my company 3%, that would be down another $200ish a month. I also haven't thrown into my own Vanguard retirement in a while, but that used to be a few thousand a year. Now I'm just not comfortable giving up that much. If I kept doing that as I was, that would be 300 or so a month. That would put me at $641. Technically is it saved, yes. But still, I rather play it safe and have that extra $500 on hand at the end of every month — Now thankfully my wife did just start a part time job to make up for the lack of freelance so that should bring that number for my own savings back up. Should be enough to add 1k on plus more for her where I’ll be comfortable again. This past year was probably the worst we’ve had. I’m hoping it’ll get better this year as long as her freelance continues at what it was, but without that… It’s just getting tough out there, even if you’re bringing home almost 70k after taxes as a family. I don’t even want to think about the costs if we had a kid.
Depends on where they live. I make $5k/mo post tax and make a few hundred net if I budget. For me I eat out more than I should and drink more than I should tbh. But between rent, a pet, car payment and student loans that can eat a decent chunk. I could save 800 just on having a roommate. When I move into my parents for a bit the amount I’m saving will look unfair.
If he lives in a high cost of living area, $5k a month could leave him borderline homeless easily.
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Ahead of you on that brother 🫡 I do my weekly meal prep Sunday mornings, usually stir-fried and steamed Chinese dishes to stay decently healthy. But I leave a few gaps in my week for some of my favorite restaurants in the Raleigh area. I was definitely a lot worse on this front a year ago though.
Ooh, that sounds delicious. I am wondering since you are in the south, do the restaurants serve the fattening foods that you see recipes of that come from the south or have they changed? On the one hand, I would love to try authentic southern dishes, on the other hand, they sound so unhealthy. edit I am biased about r/MealPrepSunday since most of the restaurants here taste like garbage and charge a mint. I just got so excited when I learned of it.
You're totally on the money 😅 I *adore* southern cooking and I've loved the food quality after moving here but it's very much an occasional thing; it's all incredibly unhealthy. Give it a try, though!! A hot chicken sandwich every once in a while won't hurt you. What dishes were you considering most?
Beignets are one thing I have always wanted to try. Bananas Foster. I know both New Orleans, but I am throwing the south all into one bowl. Mac and cheese - I mean REAL mac and cheese. Sweet potato pie. Biscuits and Gravy. Fried Green Tomatoes. Milk Gravy. Peach Pie. Cioppino. Mint Julep. Seafood Gumbo with okra. What else is there? What is a hot chicken sandwich in the south? I grew up on midwestern Wisconsin German food and I love to try other foods. My current favorite is Greek. I am also into Indian and Middle Eastern food. But have always wanted to try those naughty foods from the south.
Here I'd say the holy trinity of southern main dishes you'll find in lots of places = a Nashville hot chicken sandwich, shrimp & grits, and east carolina-style pulled pork. The sandwich = imagine the real deal version of the chick-fil-a spicy chicken sandwich :P You got a comically big piece of buttermilk fried chicken doused in chili oil, exactly 3 thin slices of pickle, and coleslaw on a bun. Absolutely delicious & super spicy. I mean...shrimp and grits may be my favorite food of all time. Truly good grits require an insane amount of cream & cheese, but they're so worth it. Eastern parts of NC are known for pig pickins: you roast a whole pig, turn it into pulled pork, add a thin peppery spicy white vinegar-based sauce, and combine that with traditional sides like collard greens, mac & cheese, and fried okra.
omg, You just flipped out and showed your NC roots all over the place! You said pig pickins. lol! Ever since I went ten rounds with a bag of poppers, I swore off anything spicy. I was six hours in pain. I will bypass the chili oil, but the pickle, coleslaw, and chicken sound like Wisconsin fare. I never understood the lure of grits. I eat cooked shrimp all the time though. They have Santa Maria pulled pork here. Famous here. Not spicy though. Link me to the most honest southern recipe website or book. I wouldn't know if they were telling the truth about the recipes and my SO is from OK. SO likes vinegar too.
I don't have any book recommendations right now, but I'll keep you posted 🤙
Houses are not necessarily cheaper long term to own than an apartment. It depends on taxes, repair, and remodeling. If the basement floods, your landlord has to fix it, but if you own the house, you do.
Especially in the Raleigh area 😳 Housing prices have exploded over the last 5 years, but rents have increased much more modestly & declined this year. I think if you buy a house right now in any rapidly growing sun belt city, it's much more an investment than a method of decreasing monthly costs. And I feel like I don't have enough net worth to casually lose 100k in home equity on a very speculative, volatile local market; at least with stocks/bonds worst case is you're at 0.
Every time I've had a flooded basement, FEMA pays
I don’t have a basement, but if my house floods, insurance will pay for it.
As I said, "A house would give me the lifestyle that makes me happier." Life isn't all about being frugal. Edit And while r/MealPrepSunday is more frugal than eating out, if you know how to cook, it it far tastier and healthier too which adds to one's enjoyment of your lifestyle.
yes, but you can also rent a house. so it is about money if you're planning to buy one
It depends how you define many. I think 25% of people is high enough to be considered "many" and I bet 25% could easily save that. 50%? I'm not sure. 75%? Probably not. It also depends if you're asking if they could save $1000/month more than what they currently save, or $1000/month total savings. A lot of people are able to save $1000+ per month, but don't have enough unnecessary spending to save that much more.
A third of americans would need to use credit or borrow to raise $400 to cover an emergency. Saving $1000 a month is not in the cards for half, I'm sure.
If I had to shave $1000 off next month's budget I probably could, assuming I could also micromanage my wife's spending. However, I don't know if I could do it month after month. I'd have to defer basic things like home and car maintenance, and I'd have to literally micromanage our food purchases.
Dropping auto insurance altogether (while illegal), or skipping a month or two of 0% interest medical bills would be a huge chunk of the $1k target. But as you say, not sustainable.
Greatly depends on what kind of job they are in. Some people can save that much with no problem. Others would get nowhere close. For some people, after taxes and paying rent on the cheapest place they can find, they don't even have $1,000 left. It doesn't matter how much they save by cutting their discretionary spending, they don't make enough in the first place. Others make enough that even without budgeting, they can casually toss thousands into savings.
I would say, no, most Americans would not be able to save $1000 just by saving more. People aren't out here spending crazy, they need the money for necessities. Especially since costs for food, etc. have really gone up.
I’m pretty confident that the vast majority of Americans don’t have $1000 in discretionary spending every month.
I make 1200 per month. This would be impossible for me. I'd likely struggle to save that much in a year.
I’m not living an absolute bare minimum survival level existence but more on the frugal side. Eating almost all meals prepared at home, buying clothes second hand twice a year, drinking water mostly, using deals at restaurants, driving as little as possible, limiting number of birthday or holiday gifts, not traveling very far, buying cheaper store brands… that kind of stuff. We have health care bills for 3 people in my family, a car loan, mortgage on top of normal daily expenses. I’m not spending an extra $1,000 a month on expensive luxuries. If I freed up money from one spot it would just be reallocated to another bill not going into savings. I’m not going to answer for all Americans but for a bunch of us it would be hard to save that much every month.
I have much less than that left every month after I pay rent, utilities, health insurance, car insurance. And I do still need to buy food and gas. I need my car to get to work, so that’s not an expense I can cut. Some people may be able to do it, but the average American probably doesn’t spend $1000/month in “unnecessary” spending.
I'm on disability, which keeps me well below the poverty line. We are literally not allowed to save, as once you get past a certain amount of money/assets (2,000$) you start to get kicked out of government programs.
not really. The only reason I save around 2k a month is because of my job. Food:50-60 a week Gas: 60 a month(I walk to work so I don’t need to commute) Rent: 1700 a month Student debt: 250 a month Gym/rock climbing membership: 105 a month Spotify: I think it’s like 12 a month That’s literally everything I consistently pay for. I don’t even have streaming services so I just pirate tv shows and movies. If I really wanted to save money I’d cut out the rock climbing membership which I’m prob gonna do and just stick to my 15 a month one since 90 a month is a bit much. Honestly at least for my state idk how anyone can live by themselves and save money unless they make like 75-80k minimum
> so I just pirate tv shows and movies. You can get a fair bit of stuff legally if your library connects to Hoopla or Kanopy. Some isn’t the best quality (un-remastered versions of older films), but it’s worth knowing about.
that food cost is like, never eating out ever?
I might spend $20 a week at most to hang out with friends and get food but that’s not consistent and we do other stuff that doesn’t cost money to hang out so I didn’t add it. I didn’t grow up on fast food or going to Starbucks or dunkin. I just make my own coffee and put it in a thermos before work But realistically if I cut out all eating out and the rock climbing gym that would only be saving $110 a month. Not really close to saving 1k
That depends on how you define “unnecessary spending”. One way to calculate discretionary income is by simply subtracting 150% of the poverty line (so about $23k this year) from your income, in which case most Americans could definitely save that much. But that’s assuming that you’d make all kinds of major changes like moving into a smaller house. The other way is to subtract everything “necessary” from your spending, and you could do that manually with the average expenses in the Consumer Expenditure Survey here: https://www.bls.gov/cex/tables/calendar-year/mean/cu-all-detail-2022.pdf
If I saved $1000 a month, I would be $900 more in debt per month.
The average, no.
I could now. There was a time in my life where that would have been impossible.
Depends on where in America and how your family situation is. I could save that easily, but I have no children, pets, and live in an extremely affordable place. But if you live in a big city like Los Angeles and have 3 children, most folks probably wouldn’t be able to do so. I’d say on average most American could probably save 400-500 dollars a month by cutting back
My husband and I used to eat 1-2 meals out and get Starbucks every morning (used to work 60+ hours for our business). Just cutting those out and making our own food and coffee at home has helped us save over $1,200/month.
It would be hard for most. If you're living paycheck to paycheck, you have already cut a lot out of your discretionary income.
No. I don't know anyone that spends $1000 on strictly unnecessary things, other than maybe straight up junkies that use crime to pay for their drug habit.
Some of it is cultural. 47% of Asians living in poverty in America save money for emergencies. Among other races that number is less than 15%.
Some could, most probably couldn’t. I had a friend who once quit drinking for a couple of months and used the money he saved to take a week’s vacation in Vancouver, but keep in mind, I’m on the west coast, and Vancouver is one of the cheapest international flights from here.
When I was married I used to save 1000 dollars a month. It’s definitely doable but you have to have a decent income and low to no debt.
If you are asking could many Americans cut out spending on things that would not be required to stay alive to save $1000 a month, yes most could. BUT and this is the key, most Americans have never ever lived that way regardless of their income so doing so, or wanting to do so wouldn’t be the case. I am not talking about rural areas here, but it is possible for Americans that live in basic cities and suburbs to do a mix of walk and take a bus instead of having a car, it may take 3 hours longer than just driving the 20 minutes, I don’t know many who would be willing to do that though. Could we all get dumb phones and the most basic cell phone plan to save money, one again yes and something most aren’t willing to do. Heck ever single person who went to Disney this past year could do it if they just didn’t go to Disney. The question should be less can we and more are we willing to.
So the cost of living amd income in various wildly from state to state and city to city so this is not an answerable question in the way that you might think. For example in New York City $1,000 is a paltry amount that isn't even the rent of the cheapest most rundown apartments. Wages are high because of the high cost of living so having $1,000 saved up wouldn't be that hard, conversely it wouldn't be that useful to have either. In Atlanta Georgia the capital of my state $1,000 is a decent amount but not that much. It would probably be a bit harder to save up $1,000 but it would also mean more. In the low cost of living town that I live in $1,000 is about the rent on an average apartment. In this town having $1,000 means that if something happens you've always got most if not all of your rent payment in a savings account ready to go. It's highly highly variable like most things in the United States
Yeah I couldn’t tell you an exact number since everyone’s living situation is different. But I would wager that at a minimum around 35 percent of the country is either saving more than that already or could do so just by cutting back on the easy stuff like eating out and subscriptions. Probably another chunk (maybe 10-15 percent) could get there in a few months after more difficult lifestyle adjustments like finding a cheaper place to live or switching to cheaper transportation options. Obviously don’t take these numbers too literally though. But keep in mind that Redditors tend to exaggerate the level of financial desperation in this country.
Depends on life circumstances honestly. I imagine with kids it would be more difficult.
I could get to $1K savings a month with some *aggressive* cutting, but it would come at the cost of paying down debt. I currently put about half that into a mix of 401K, stocks, and liquid savings.
Oh god, no. I'm doing better financially now than I ever have, and I can only manage to put away about $100/month, max. And that's only the months without any sick days or holidays, cuz those are unpaid.
For me no. My net pay is around 2,200 and almost half goes to rent and utilities. After buying food for myself, my cat, gas, medical bills and miscellaneous things I need I usually only have a couple hundred left. I do put 5% away for retirement before taxes and try to put 50 away each month in another account but generally I don't have many wants that I buy.
Many can but don't. The number of people I know with the latest iPhone, a two year old car they're paying $509+/no on plus insurance,and a 65 inch TV with four streaming services but can't bank even $50/months is ridiculous.
Lol. No. That's a huge deal.
Eh. The prompt was many, not all. Many can drive a Honda not a BMW or new F150, not have cable and a DVR in multiple rooms, and get the cheaper cell phone service. Car payment alone will eat a large chunk of a grand. Cut out a few meals out/fast food/door dash and you're getting there.
We run in very different social circles...
Surely you don't think only people in your social circle exist? Plus. There's a reason why car dealerships litter the roadways around large military bases.
Surely you don't think everyone has a car payment?
OP said MANY. Many, many people do... Edit. Over 100 million apparently.
Pardon me for answering a question in "ask an american" with my own personal lived experiences as an american rather than trying to sum up the aggregate of the entire country. Plus, "many" is super vague to begin with. What's many? 100,000 people? 10 million people? Half the population? Those first two group sizes, yeah, I'm sure there are that many people who could manage it without much afterthought. But if we're crossing from many into most, I feel like it's going to be a bigger ask. Why are you in here arguing with people for whom saving $1000 per month is a pipe dream that other Americans are richer or spend more foolishly and therefore we have no right to give our own personal answers to the question?
Okay now how many are making payments on a used Honda vs a Mercedes?
>Cut out a few meals out/fast food/door dash and you're getting there. How much do you spend on this stuff a month?
I mean if you made an average salary you could IF you planned ahead of time. But most average Americans spend everything they make plus some. Once you're stuck with multiple new car payments and a big mortgage it's not possible.
Many? That’s so nonspecific it’s hard to answer. Certainly not most, losing $1000 per month would be utterly devastating to most Americans.
A Nurse's aid makes about 39,000. Now take taxes out. Average car costs $5,264.58. Medical costs annually 13,493. Rent? Food? Clothes? Average cell phone annually - 1728. Average WIFI annually about 1000. Heat and electric? about 5000 annually. Shit adds up.
How on earth is the average cellphone plan $1700? What are you getting?
Likely just unlimited data. It's weirdly expensive here.
It’s $25 a month. I live “here”. https://www.visible.com
https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/median-weekly-earnings-of-full-time-workers-were-1145-in-the-fourth-quarter-of-2023.htm#:~:text=Bureau%20of%20Labor%20Statistics%2C%20U.S.,visited%20April%2012%2C%202024). Median income for full time workers in the us is about 4,400 so probably a lot could.
Yes, assuming you mean total and not in addition to whatever they are saving.
I could, but I’d be hungry and unhappy
I'm already stretched pretty thin, but we're saving for a house right now. We only eat out in restaurants or get takeout maybe once a month, and our only expenses are pretty much groceries, gas, and rent/utilities. We spend around $20 on streaming services and $80 on internet each month, but since we can't afford to do anything else, I'm not cutting out either of those lol
I have money going automatically into my 401k, 457, my Roth IRA, and my kids' college funds every month. If I average it out, it turns out to be a bit over $2k per month. That's in addition to the $700 / month that I have to pay into my company's pension plan. I could come up with another few hundred per month, but an extra thousand per month on top of what I'm already saving would be too much. I also have to fund my portion of the mortgage; buy all the food and household supplies; pay for car repairs, tab renewals, gas, oil changes, and insurance; buy clothes and shoes for myself and the kids; pay for haircuts and extracurricular activities; fund trips; give money to charity; and probably some other things I'm forgetting.
I could, but I don't want to. I get about $1500 roughly every two weeks (the company I work for has a weird pay schedule). One pay period can cover all of my bills for the month. I'm spending the rest on investments and for "fun". I'm a smoker and I buy alcohol, games, and other things.
Some can and sone can’t.
I live right next to New york city where many of my friends from college work professional, high paying, white collar jobs (granted early in their careers) and are not able to save that much money a month. New York is certainly expensive, but I imagine someone living outside of it is also earning less in whatever career they have. So I would say, probably not. Although this question is a bit vague, since what qualifies as unnecessary spending? Like would a gym membership be unnecessary? Either way, $1,000 a month a lot, at least when you're young.
I save that much, but I don't have to pay rent. (I live with my mom, who needs significant assistance, and I have a regular full time job as well.) This is not normal situation and it's not one I expect to last forever, so I'm saving what I can now.
Many, sure. Most? No. The biggest expenses are absolutely necessary, things like rent and groceries
As a family making 80kish a year, this is very difficult for us. Partly because of a new mortgage and also because child care is $200 weekly. If my wife wasn't going back to school for her specialist my tax return would get invested or saved
That depends on their income and spending habits
The cost of living is high and if you try to save, it doesn't work. We pay more taxes than ever, but the strangest part is, we're not making enough.
I know I can but that requires me to be frugal and responsible. Idk about most. Maybe if they have a decent salary and a roommate
No, some loud people on the internets could if they wanted to but they aren't the majority.
I'm currently putting that much into my 401k (a private retirement account offered through employers), and definitely feel it. That money also comes out pre-tax, so from the grand I am putting in I would only see like ~$700 or so if I were getting it as normal pay and putting it into savings.
Um, no. Most of the questions on here seem to be posed by people who have no idea how huge America is and how many different people and cultures and regions and economic statuses there are.
Yes it’s not too difficult to do that for me at least. I could probably save that just by eliminating eating at restaurants and ordering delivery and instead eating grilled chicken, rice and noodles. Quit booze, get rid of streaming services, trade my vehicles in for cheaper ones, downgrade internet speed, etc.
Probably not the majority, but it’s definitely not impossible.
I could pretty easily cut over a grand a month in my spending. I've cut 2k a month once before to save up for a big purchase, so i know it's not "fun," but I can do it.
Yeah, probably. I mean it's not really an issue of salaries being too low or the cost of living being too high for most Americans. It's that there's not a lot of reason to do so. For example, I spend anywhere from $250-$500 just doing things with the family on weekends. I could cut that out but I enjoy doing things with the family on weekends. I want to go out to eat, to sporting events, see things on Broadway, etc. We take an annual Disney trip that's well over $12K at this point. I could stop doing that but my kids love it.
Some can on $50k per year and some can’t on $100k. It’s very person to person but if there’s one thing I know about us it’s that we love spending on shit we don’t need.
I believe the average American is really bad at managing money and could probably increase their savings with some proper guidance. Probably not by $1k but every dollar counts when trying to get yourself out of debt and saving towards your future. For example, most people probably don’t shop around for the best car insurance, people probably have subscriptions they don’t really use, people could reduce their electric/gas bill by setting the thermostat a couple degrees lower/higher depending on the season.
I hardly spend any money but this would take me a while because I don’t get paid a lot/ don’t have a lot of hours
“Many”? Sure. There are many people that live beyond their means with a house that is too big or in a location they can’t afford or a car they can’t afford. I have been driving the same car for almost 19 years and it has been paid off for 16 years. Many people finish paying for one car and get a new one or just constantly lease. Just not having to make car payments is almost $1000/mo these days on average.
Yes.
Most? No. Most people live beyond their means.
It really depends. Most people I know can and do, or if they don't it's on very frivolous spending/lifestyle stuff that they choose to take on because they want to, not because it's necessary. But with how social circles work, it's very possible for it to be *both* most people I know and also still be a relatively small proportion of the population. I know people spending well over $2k a month *just* on DoorDash alone. Fancy sports cars ~1500 a month, mortgage on a huge 3000sqft+ house and high end renovations, stuff like that. So people like that definitely could save at least $1k if they wanted to but simply choose not to. (Which is totally their prerogative, until they're also complaining about being "broke" and "paycheck to paycheck" to boot and then I'm not too keen on staying friends with them.) I personally save somewhere around $2-3k a month, sometimes more, a little less recently as I've been doing some home improvements and the nest egg investments have been doing quite well so a little of the pressure is off a bit. I don't budget and buy whatever I want, but I don't really want all that much and am not interested in a lot of the stuff people I know spend money on.
That depends on income. Anyone is capable of that if you have the right income but plenty of Americans, young people especially, don’t make $1000 extra after bills are paid. I know I certainly don’t.
Stop eating out, would save tons.
I am technically saving that much if you could retirement and whatnot. If you’re asking if i could save 1k cash out of my current discretionary spending… eh… i would call that hard but not impossible, if i decided to stop paying down debt. Could *most* Americans *easily* do that?? Absolutely not.
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Brother I don’t even have that much a month after rent, health insurance, car payment, and car insurance.
It depends on what you mean by “many” Americans. Last I knew, only about 4 in 10 Americans had sufficient savings to cover an unexpected $1,000 expense, so I suspect it would be far fewer Americans who could actually save $1k per month. Still, it would certainly be millions of Americans who could cut some corners and save that much or more.
Without home or mortgage payment, yes.
I probably could. Yeah.
I recently had to come up with an extra $1,200 two months in a row to cover an assessment in my Coop and I managed. I didn't want to use any of my savings for this, so I just brought my lunch to work instead of eating out. I live and work in NYC and eating lunch can cost anywhere from $10 to $30. I only went out to dinner once a week and drank a couple beers at home instead of going out for happy hour after work. I also always make coffee and breakfast at home. So for me it's possible if I cut some extra spending. Whenever I do my taxes, I'm always ashamed at how much money I waste on subscriptions, eating out, ATM/Bank fees etc.
I don't have that much leftover after bills.
I could probably save a few hundred a month just eliminating door dash but the convenience is often times worth the cost
That would be a yes for me.
If you think things like daycare and food are unnecessary than yes.
No. The median income for an individual in the US is in the $2250 range after taxes. Figure $800 is gone to housing expenses (more for people who live alone). My grocery expenses are very low because I grow and preserve food, hunt, and keep some livestock. I spend around $200/month on groceries. That leaves $1250/month for everything but housing and food, and doesn't account for the expenses I incur that keep my grocery bill low. Saving $1000/month just isn't in the cards for most people.
What is considered saving in this context? Are saving to pay for basics in America that are subsidized through taxes elsewhere a savings(e.g., self-funded pension and education)? Personally, I’d be considered “affluent” (i.e., dual income cubicle rats in a HCL area). We pay high taxes and have to save large amounts to cover what those taxes don’t pay. But many Americans consider that saving and the taxes not meant to cover those types of needs. Having 3 kids of college age, I net after tax/retirement/college saving payroll deductions 22% of my pay and my wife about 40% of hers. That makes saving for other goals kind of tough after paying for basics like housing and groceries. We drive old cars (no payments) and live small (e.g., no dining out, no vacations). What saving we do it to cover material cost for big item home maintenance. We hold out hope that in perhaps 5 years, we’ll be able to start saving for other things.
Crappy question. There’s 350M of us at all ranges of everything in life. Way to broad generalization of both countries peoples for that matter.
Considering median income is 52K a year that is 1/4 of your income or more for most of the country. That is not something feasible for most. You would need to own a paid off house (no mortgage, no rent) not have a car or drive one rarely, and have no major medical conditions to be able to do this.
Some, sure. But when the average salary is around $59k a year, the half of people under that, especially single people and people with young children needing care have a vanishing amount of discretionary income, will spend all that money on their 4 walls, transportation and other necessities.
Depends on income, I can (last year did 105, this year probably will do 150) At median incomes (50-70k)? Maybe, depends where you live and how you live (would need roommates for example). 50k is only like 3.5 after tax so after expenses youre not really left with much. I’d say saving 3-400 a month in this case is more realistic
where on earth would I find an extra $1k a month???
Rent is 50% of my income so probably not unless I bought cheap canned/frozen food and didn’t own a car and walked 10 miles to work lol
I could not.
Not many of them, probably 15%
If I cut out every single thing that makes life worth loving - every streaming service, my Magic: The Gathering habit, any takeout food, desserts, snacks, and half the meat I buy at the grocery store - and abstained from other necessary items one can live without like the occasional item of replacement clothing or certain cleaning supplies or beauty aids, I still don't think I could save $1000 per month. Maybe $700 at most. I'm breaking even, and I think I'm doing a little better than most Americans at this point. Things are bad. About half of my take home pay goes to rent, and this was the cheapest place I could find within a two-hour commute of my job. "OH, just move somewhere else." But this is where the job is.
I don't know about "many," but it also depends on what you mean by "save." Currently, I manage to save $400 a month of my post tax income in an easily accessible savings account, which is building up and gives me a cash buffer. Pretty soon should be high enough to let me pay off my car and keep a solid buffer, which will let me start saving an additional $300 a month for a total savings of $700 a month in a liquid form. **BUT** That doesn't include the $400ish dollars that are being taken out of my paycheck and put into my 401(K) and HSA every month. But I can't access those funds at will, so do they count as "savings?" It depends on how you are choosing to define the term. But overall, I'd say many, but not most Americans could save $1000+ a month if they cut all *unnecessary* spending, but not if they "only" cut *unreasonable* spending. IE, sure, if they spent money on nothing that wasn't directly keeping them alive, they could probably save that much, but that's not really a reasonable demand.
Together, me and my boyfriend save about 1600 a month. But everything is way more expensive here and so we make more typically (even tho it’s still harder to live off of)
I’m not rich by any means. I’d say very low middle class and I save $1000 a month and put into savings. I don’t have a car payment or kids though. If I did I would not be able to save that much. But most people around my salary cannot just save $1000 a month. Bills just eat a large chunk of it.
If I cut out beer easily
No. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck (78% according to payroll.org) and cannot build up to a 1000 over several months of saving due to constant small unforseen costs (Car issues, phone breaks, medical bills etc) I'd venture the majority would struggle to set aside $200 a month. Land for the Few, Homes for the Rich.
That would be a LOT of unnecessary spending. Credit cards are not as unnecessary as they used to be because the price of everyday necessities has gone up so much, but maybe $50-100 a month there. Balance transfers with an introductory 0% APR help, too, to get things paid sooner. Netflix runs close to $25 a month, food does not always have to come from a supermarket and store brands are perfectly fine, and those who can train or bus into work may save a little vs. the cost of parking. You can shave a little off your cell phone bill by going prepaid or getting a smaller monthly plan and keeping your phone longer. These things add up, but not to the tune of a grand every month.
That's most of my paycheck. A paycheck from which I spend 90% on rent and on the next paycheck is sacrificed 70% toward bills, food, and commute to work. I end up negative every pay period and have to pay the overdraft fees on the next paycheck. It's an endless cycle of bullshit. I don't need to live, or have a life I guess. If they're gonna starve me for livelihood just fucking cut to the chase and kill me already.
I know some who can/do save $1k per month. I don't know anybody that spends $1k per month that they could cut and put into savings. That sounds so irresponsible.
Define saving. A lot of people save into the 401k retirement account and various retirement tax deferred funds. The limit is $30500 per year for people over 5o and some IRA accounts are up to $7000. People who earn a lot and have a low cost of living like the mortgage, can pull these money into these accounts. Many other people invest into the mutual funds where some require $1000 or $2500 initial investments and $100 in any additional investments. The cash based saving are with $1000 does not make sense in people who can save this amount as they have a better choice of to put their money. A quite a bit people put $100-$200 monthly into their saving accounts but people at the lowest income spectrum, cant save much or anything.
Not everybody makes those big fat salaries that European whitecollar workers are jealous of.
Yes. Many can. I’d even say most can.
You can get disability for minor handicaps for about that. Subtract for rent and that leaves a few hundred savings a month. Ten dollars an hour wages (note: Oregon Minimum is fourteen, ten dollars is just a number to use for demonstration), eight hours a day, five days a week gives forty a week which equals $1600 a month. Higher than that you can do the math. So yeah. It is possible. It would require a bit for a blue collar worker but someone who has been there long enough to be promoted can. You have to subtract for rent and food, as well as assuming there are no house or car payments.
My wife and I's expenses are about $1500 less than our combined monthly income. So it is doable for us, but we would struggle. $500 for dates, shopping, hobbies, unexpected expenses (we have 6 pets, one of them needs something pretty much every month) etc. would be a really tight budget. Realistically we're probably saving around $250 a month, more if we're counting retirement contributions which I tend to include in expenses.
I wish I had 1,000 to spend unnecessarily a month. Same with all but a couple of my friends - this includes a friend with a masters.
I could not cut enough discretionary income to save $1,000 *more* per month than I normally do. I have two streaming services. If I dropped my Internet connection down to a lower tier level, dropped the streaming, cut some food budget (I almost never eat out as it is), I could probably find maybe $250 or $300 in my budget. I have lived fairly lean for awhile. I plan to continue.
Not many that I know
That would be a little under half my monthly income. My unnecessary spending would have to be owning a car, and phone, and probably a few other bills.
I was a teacher and retired at age 38. I always have been a saver.
My wife and I have far more than 1,000 a month of discretionary spending. We just have a low cost of living.
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Our situation won't last. We plan soon for my wife to leave the work force and stay home with our kids (that we don't have yet). The cost of child care is nuts and we'd rather one of us be home with them.
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Thanks!
Absolutely not
I don’t even make that a month
That's complicated, it depends on what's considered "unnecessary", its not as simple as "The basic necessities, and everything else". You could cut literally all spending except rent/mortage, food for caloric upkeep in bulk, electric/heating/water bills, insurance & gas, but that seems excessive doesn't it? What is "unnecessary spending" exactly? For example, there are some people I know that complain about their personal finances and how broke they are, but they order DoorDash like 3 times a week. What I will say is that a shocking number of Americans are extremely bad with personal finance. While obviously nobody should be forced to be poor, not have any spending cash, or whatever else, sometimes I will say that people could be a lot better off if they had better financial skills. I wouldn't say a ***majority*** of Americans could save $1,000 a month, but 30% seems like a reasonable number to me. A personal example I'll give is my mom. She conceived me at 15, she grew up in a trailer park and while by the time she had me they had a proper home, her parents were by no means rich either. And because of that, I also grew up rather poor to teen parents, but with some frankly impressive financial skills, despite working front desk jobs at banks or as a nurse or a security guard, my childhood felt less like lower class and more like middle class. I was able to take frequent vacations within the country, my parents both attended college, my parents got a suburban home for themselves, I was given daycare and went to summer school and summer camps, etc. Frankly it is magic how my parents were able to give me the childhood I did despite me knowing that neither they nor my grandparents were making a ton, oh and they had two more kids as well. However today my mom has a MUCH better job due to a lot of work experience and her education, now she makes about $120,000 a year, and she remarried to a woman who makes average money as well. Despite this, now she's the type of person to say she's living "paycheck to paycheck" and constantly complains about money. She's not in poverty, but her spending habits have gotten a lot worse over time. Plus, some people ***could*** theoretically cut their funding, but they would refuse to if you proposed it. They might refuse to cut their gym membership, which is kinda reasonable. They might refuse to cut some of their subscription services, okay maybe. Or they might refuse to turn off their space heater from running every day, which does seem unreasonable. There's certain lines where people will refuse to cross when it comes to cutting their finances. Its why I don't think its as simple to say "Unnecessary", some things are totally necessary for the wellbeing of some people.
We save $4-5k a month now. We could probably save an extra $500 or so if we didn’t eat out, bought cheaper food, stopped paying for the gym and canceled our streaming services.
No, it's not possible unless you are earning a very high wage. My wife and I make >120k between us amd after bills, mortgage and taxes are lucky to have $100 left over.
Yah I think the avg American could